Today on CNBC was a perfect example of the hypocrisy of the on-air anchors.
First was a segment on the auto industry and whether taxpayers should bail them out. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, one of the more ludicrous right-wingers on CNBC, demonstrated the CNBC attitude towards workers. The auto industry reporter, Phil LeBeau, said the industry should be saved because allowing one of the car makers to go bankrupt would put upwards of two million people out of work. Caruso-Cabrera’s response, to paraphrase, “Sorry about that but that’s the way of the business world.”
Her cohort, Dennis Kneale, less than an hour later, interviewed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the avowed socialist. He wants all employees of the nine largest banks to lose their bonuses because of the Banks taking taxpayer funds and their irresponsibility that it costing us all thousands of dollars. Not just the top executives, but all employees. Well, Kneale went ballistic. Again to paraphrase, “Those secretaries, who are hoping for a measly $30,000 bonus, shouldn’t be penalized. They didn’t do anything wrong.”
Well, the auto workers didn’t do “anything wrong” either. If you require a taxpayer bailout, then you get no bonuses. But that’s not how the banks see it.
According to an analysis in Forbes magazine, the nation’s biggest banks have already set aside tens of billions of dollars for year-end bonuses.